Meet the Mystery Theatre Playwright

Andrea Molberg

In March, Community Circle Players will be producing Joh Mann’s murder mystery Spook Light Legacy, which is loosely based the on the real Crescent Hotel in Eureka, Arkansas. Plan to be entertained by CCP’s performances of the script that has been tweaked for SaddleBrooke audiences!

The backstory? The state of Oklahoma’s tourism office wanted Joh’s help enticing winter visitors to the lake lodges around the state, and she knew murder mysteries and lighthearted comedies would be a draw. After trying to track down good scripts, she concluded: “It’s faster and easier to write a bad play than to find one.” She creates a script a year. Spook Light Legacy was her fourth.

The playwright specializes in “murder, mayhem, and mystery.” She describes her farces, many which have music, as sometimes “over the top,” giving actors a chance to exaggerate for fun. Joh has written a total of 10 plays as fundraisers for charitable groups and, over the years, raised about $20,000 for her local community theatre. Typically, 100 to 200 people are in her Oklahoma audiences. On purpose, she keeps the costs for her sets minimal (so she can “raise money not spend it”) and makes them easy to transport from one location to another. When we talked by phone, she was in the process of moving a show that night.

Joh is a state certified teacher of 11th grade language arts—English, drama, and debate—who volunteers to promote the arts. She is excited about CCP’s production and hopes to attend one of the SaddleBrooke performances March 25 through 31.